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A smile and a shoeshine

Joined
2/7/08
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In the NYT:

Council members assert that young people can start businesses even if they have little or no money or experience. But whether those start-ups last is another matter. Roughly half of all new businesses fail within the first five years, according to federal data. And the entrepreneurial life is notoriously filled with risks, stresses and sacrifices.

But then again, unemployment is 9.8 percent; Mr. Gerber’s in-box is flooded with e-mails from young people who have sent out hundreds of résumés for corporate jobs and come up empty. According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, only 24.4 percent of 2010 graduates who applied for a job had one waiting for them after graduation (up from 19.7 percent in 2009). What do some people have to lose?

When deciding whether to start a business, “You have to really want to do it,” says Maia Josebachvili, 27, a council member and founder of Urban Escapes, which organizes outdoor trips. She quit her job as a derivatives trader on Wall Street to start her company, which grew to 45 employees and was recently acquired by LivingSocial, a consumer site.
 
I enjoy this article a lot for obvious reasons though I don't think I would find many would-be-entrepreneur among the memberships here.

Few points to take away from the articles
1) Majority of start-up mentioned is web-based since it requires the least amount of capital
2) Most business will fail within the first few years
3) People who start a business are mainly US residents. International students would be most concerned with getting a job, get a H1-B visa.
 
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